The Kingdom of Bahrain ranked as top 10 MENA Ecosystem and top 10 Emerging Ecosystem in Performance in the 2023 Global Startup Ecosystem Report. The report is one of the world’s most comprehensive, data-driven research on startup ecosystems, and it is published annually by the world-leading policy advisory and research organization Startup Genome in cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). The latest version of the report was announced globally in Amsterdam during the TNW Conference . The report ranks a 100 emerging ecosystems around the world and provides compelling insights and knowledge about startup trends around the world.
Bahrain’s ecosystem value increased to $928 million compared to last year’s figure of $564 million, marking an increase of 54% in ecosystem value growth- which is a measure of economic impact, calculated as the value of Exits and startup valuations.
In addition, the Kingdom of Bahrain was ranked 15th amongst MENA Ecosystem in Talent & Experience which is a testament of the Kingdom’s efforts to train and upskill its talent in all industries especially the growing ICT sector, recognizing the critical role of digital literacy in the country’s economic growth and development.
The evaluation of Bahrain’s ecosystem led to recognition across various indicators, which is a testament to the recent successes achieved by Bahraini-based startups and scaleups. Besides its highly ranked performance in fintech since last year, it was recently recognized for its advancements in Cybersecurity and Govtech sectors, placing it among the top 15 MENA ecosystems in funding and affordable local talent.
On this occasion, Tamkeen’s Executive Director of Strategy and Transformation Mrs. Alya Alaali shared her insights on Bahrain’s global ranking as she stated: “Startups are essential to economic growth, driving technology adoption and innovation, and job creation. The growth in the ecosystem value is a testament of Bahrain’s dynamism and workforce advantage. The strength of the Fintech Sector, and the Cybersecurity skills of local workforce, along with the use of advanced technologies to provide efficient government services reflects the joint efforts put forward by Team Bahrain which resulted in the positive development of the ecosystem ” She continued “Through Tamkeen’s various programs, partnerships, and initiatives, we will continue building on this momentum and march towards an ecosystem that allows startups to thrive and grow.”
Stephan Kuester, Head of Ecosystem Strategy of Startup Genome shares his insights as he stated “We are very proud to be working together with Tamkeen to highlight their startup success stories in Bahrain and share with the world the top opportunities we see for continued strong entrepreneurial growth in the region. We are excited that Bahrain is part of our global network of world-leading innovators, and we look forward to driving further success through the power of connectedness and our ability to share key insights, best practices, and learnings for the future together.”
ABOUT TAMKEEN
Tamkeen empowers Bahrainis to become employees of choice and enables the private sector to become the key engine of economic growth. It works with enterprises to innovate, grow, transform, digitalize, and internationalize. It also supports Bahraini talents with their training needs, ensuring their competitiveness both locally and internationally.
ABOUT STARTUP GENOME
Startup Genome’s data-driven insights provide innovation policy leaders with clarity, momentum, and strategy to help them define and execute growth-focused actions. Working side-by-side with 300 partner organizations, Startup Genome’s frameworks and methodologies are instrumental in building foundations for startups to grow. Startup Genome identifies key gaps in startup ecosystems and prioritizes actions to fuel sustained economic growth rooted in more than a decade of independent research. Find out more by contacting Adam Bregu at adam@startupgenome.com or visiting startupgenome.com and LinkedIn.
